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INSTRUCTION No

INSTRUCTION No. 204-TTg ISSUED BY THE PRIME MINISTER ON STRENGTHENING ANTI-EPIDEMIC WORK

In the first three months of 1994, cholera, purulent meningitis and food poisoning broke out in a number of provinces. Due to their not being active in epidemic and disease prevention and their infrequent education on hygiene awareness, a number of localities failed to discover and report the epidemics in time. That is why the epidemics have caused a number of deaths and adversely affected the life of the population.

In order to minimize the losses in life and property caused by epidemics, the Prime Minister requests the Chairmen of the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly attached to the Central Government, the Ministers and the Heads of all concerned branches to immediately undertake the following works:

1. The Chairmen of the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly attached to the Central Government shall regularly supervise and inspect the observance of the Law on Protection of the People's Health and the Regulation on Hygiene by the Health Service and the other branches and levels and especially their work to prevent bacterial and epidemic diseases in their localities.

They shall also regularly educate people on preventive measures against each of the seasonal diseases to help everyone know how to care for their own health, report their health problems, increase their personal hygiene and use clean foods and water.

2. The Ministry of Health shall increase its leadership over the various echelons in disease prevention, treatment, emergency aid and disease monitoring, make quick discovery of the beds of epidemics, and prepare facilities, medicines, equipment and health workers to respond in time to epidemic outbreaks.

It shall quickly improve its epidemics-reporting system. In the communes or urban wards where an epidemic breaks out and where no timely reporting reaches the district People's Committee and the district Health Center or the provincial Health Service, the Chairman of the People's Committees of those communes and urban wards shall be held responsible. In the district Health Center and provincial Health Service which has been aware of an epidemic outbreak but which fails to send health workers to assist the local efforts, the director of that Health Center or Health Service shall be held responsible.

3. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry shall provide guidance for the good processing of organic fertilizers before fertilizing; together with the Ministry of Trade and the other concerned branches, it shall provide leadership for the close management of the processing, cleaning and distribution of foodstuffs, and the use of food dyes or inorganic sugar in the processing of foods and drinks.

4. The National Administration of Tourism and the General Customs Office will coordinate with the Quarantine Control of the Health Service to effectively organize supervision and control in order to check the introduction of dangerous diseases through human beings and goods coming from abroad.

The Ministers, the Heads of the agencies at the ministerial level, the Heads of the agencies under the Central Government and the Chairmen of the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly attached to the Central Government, will be responsible for the deployment and implementation of this Instruction.

For the Prime Minister

Deputy Prime Minister

NGUYEN KHANH